Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 392 Wanbaolou: Transforming People's Hearts, Astounding Results, Meeting Two Clowns
Wanbaolou has five floors and is structured like a pyramid.

The first floor is the largest, with a width of 100 meters. Then, the width decreases by 10 meters with each subsequent floor, until the top floor is only 60 meters wide.

Because the entire building is made of giant golden pine wood unique to Hongmuling, the exterior of the building glows slightly with gold under the firelight at night, exuding a grand and solemn atmosphere that inspires awe.

All five floors adopt the unique flying eaves structure of Daxia. The four corners of the roof turn up like a bird spreading its wings, light and lively, adding a touch of softness to the grand and solemn atmosphere.

“Look, those beast statues on the eaves…”

Yue Long suddenly pointed to the eaves and exclaimed in surprise. Han Peng and the others looked in the direction he was pointing, and their pupils immediately widened in horror.

It turned out that every ten meters on the eaves above their heads, there was a miniature statue of a cold beast, about thirty centimeters tall. Among them were familiar creatures such as the Snow Shadow Wolf, Rock Armor Bear, Frost-Haired Ape, and Six-Horned Demon Sheep, as well as creatures they had never seen before, such as a rabbit-shaped cold beast with strong hind legs, a boar-shaped cold beast with its body covered in barbs, and a snake-shaped cold beast with a serpentine body that snaked and coiled around its body.

These frigid beast statues are depicted in various poses: some with mouths open in a roar, some lying quietly, and others baring their teeth and claws, their hind legs braced on the ground, as if about to pounce on people...

Not only are they all different in shape, but their craftsmanship is also extremely exquisite. From the mane and scales on their bodies to their eyes and limbs, they are all made of different colored materials. They are clearly replicas of the original cold beasts, lifelike and exquisitely beautiful to the extreme.

If that were all, it wouldn't be enough to make Han Peng and the others show such shocked expressions. The statues in Daxia were indeed more exquisite than those in Jiuzhen, but such flashy and impractical things, even if the people in these village-level camps envied, they wouldn't take too seriously.

The main feature is that, illuminated by the firelight at night, the main bodies of these sculptures all radiate a mesmerizing silver glow, and people can distinguish their materials with the naked eye without even touching them.

"Plop..."

"These statues are all about the size of three fists, which means each one weighs nearly 500 jin, or 5000 taels of silver?"

When Yue Long said the last sentence, and learned that each statue would cost about 5000 taels of silver to cast, not only Han Peng and the others, but also Yang Ning and Li Hu at the back of the group showed a look of surprise.

5000 taels of silver is a huge sum of money, whether for Han Peng and the other 15 cold-weather-level soldiers from the village-level camp, or for Yang Ning and Li Hu from Beishuo.

The key point is that this is only the main weight of the statue. The materials used for these statues are not only silver. The materials used for the eyeballs, mane, scales, and horns are also obviously of high quality.

If we also take into account the carving and casting techniques of the Great Xia Dynasty, its value would increase by at least 20% to 30%, meaning that this statue would be worth at least 8000 taels of silver.

If such statues were placed every 10 meters along the eaves, the five-story Wanbao Tower would have a total of 20 eaves, with 140 statues in total, and the total value would be at least 112 million taels of silver.

And this is just something displayed outside Wanbaolou for people to see casually!
"I've scrimped and saved for decades, risked my life for Jinshan Town dozens of times, and only managed to save 20 taels of silver. If it weren't for meeting a benefactor six years ago and becoming a secret agent for Caiqiu, earning a lot of money, my current net worth would be at most 25 taels, which isn't even enough to decorate one floor of the Wanbao Tower..."

Han Peng looked up at the statue, feeling a deep sense of regret, while also clenching his fist under his sleeve, a strong sense of resentment flashing deep in his eyes.

Of course, it wasn't just Han Peng; the leaders of the other eight families in Yinhe Valley behind him, as well as the other Cold-resistant level cultivators, all had extremely complicated expressions on their faces.

They were all at the Cold Resistance level, and most of them had been to Jinshan City, so their knowledge was definitely not low. But they had never seen anything like the Great Xia Wanbaolou, which so openly displayed more than a million taels of silver to the public.

"Is Great Xia trying to flaunt its wealth to us outsiders?"

"Definitely. Wanbaolou is mainly targeting the eight major towns, not people in our village-level camps."

"If it's like this on the outside, how luxurious must it be inside?"

Yue Long's words immediately piqued everyone's curiosity.

Although it was already daylight, there were still many people coming and going at the entrance. They weren't the only ones. After calming themselves down, they followed the people in front and walked towards the gate.

"Even the doors are made of high-quality forged iron, with silver engravings and edging, tsk tsk..."

The Wanbao Building is about six meters high on a single floor. The two main doors on the first floor are about 5.5 meters high, about half a meter thick, and about 3.5 meters wide.

What's astonishing is that the main body of the gate is made of high-grade iron, and the surface is covered with silver engravings. The edges are also wrapped with silver. The value of this gate alone is equivalent to the entire wealth of many village-level camps.

It should be noted that apart from those with good backgrounds and strong skills, most weapons used for the Cold Resistance level are only made of ten-thousand-times-forged iron. According to the current market in the Eight Towns, excluding special types, a normal ten-thousand-times-forged iron weapon is priced at around 200 taels of silver.

Not counting the silver, the iron used to build these two gates alone could probably be used to forge thousands of weapons of the ten-thousand-fold grade. In other words, the iron alone is worth at least 20 taels of silver.

Everyone sighed inwardly once again, and followed the crowd inside.

Contrary to expectations, upon entering the gate, the first thing one saw was not a dazzling trade market, but a blue wall with a long corridor extending from each side, its destination unknown.

"Welcome to the Great Xia Wanbao Building. Please follow Xiaorou to the quiet room."

There were many young men and women dressed in blue around the corridor. They would greet anyone who came in. When Han Peng and his group entered, a young woman in her early twenties with fair skin greeted them with a smile.

"I am Han Peng from Jinyang Village, and I have met Miss Xiaorou!"

Although Zeng Rou greeted him with an incredibly warm smile, Han Peng's first reaction was still to bow somewhat reservedly in return.

The reason is simple: clothes make the man. Zeng Rou, like the other staff members of Wanbaolou, was wearing a blue robe. From a distance, the robe looked ordinary, but upon closer inspection, it was clearly made of high-quality silk, and the fabric seemed to be even more advanced than the brocade of Beishuo.

Furthermore, although Zeng Rou looked to be only in her early twenties, her cultivation level had already reached the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm. Moreover, her skin was fair and delicate, and it was obvious that she rarely went out and had never experienced any cold or frost. When she spoke to the seventeen Cold-Resistant Realm cultivators, she was neither humble nor arrogant, and her temperament was exceptionally refined.

Standing before her, these villagers, all at the Cold Resistance level, looked like ordinary people with only the Earth Digging Realm cultivation.

"It seems that this is the first time for all of you to visit Wanbaolou in my Great Xia. Elder Han, there is no need to introduce yourselves to me. Apart from the eight town chambers of commerce, everyone else entering Wanbaolou will be treated equally. We will not ask about your identity or wealth, but only discuss transactions. Please follow me to the quiet room to change your clothes!"

Seeing that Han Peng and the others were a little reserved, Zeng Rou immediately knew that it was their first time visiting Wanbaolou. She smiled and explained, then led them directly to the right corridor.

Do you have to change clothes to enter Wanbaolou?

Han Peng and the others exchanged glances, but they were too embarrassed to ask any more questions. They could only continue to follow behind Zeng Rou and walk towards the end of the corridor.

As they walked along, Han Peng and the others discovered that every three meters along both sides of the corridor was a small door, and many people like them were being led into them by servants in blue robes. Clearly, the quiet rooms were behind those small doors.

Soon Zeng Rou led them to the door of a quiet room, pushed open the small door, and led Han Peng and his group of seventeen people inside.

There were seats in the quiet room. Zeng Rou first invited everyone to sit down, and then used a lock to open the wardrobe on the side of the quiet room. She took out a black robe and a red mask from it, and turned to introduce them to everyone: "In order to ensure the privacy of all guests, Wanbaolou has specially prepared this concealing black robe and vermilion wooden mask. You can try them on first."

Upon hearing this, Han Peng and the others' eyes lit up instantly. They then took the two items from Zeng Rou's hands, examined them for a while, and their expressions became even more excited.

"It can isolate the movement of qi and muscle in the human body."

"This mask is not simple either; my senses cannot penetrate it."

"Good stuff!"

………………

Since Hongmen opened as a port in July, everyone who comes here to trade is most worried about their own safety.

The eight towns on the southern slope of Mo'ao are not on good terms with each other, and they are all at the same level of cold resistance. Who hasn't risked their life hunting and gathering in the wilderness? Who doesn't have enemies in their daily life? Even if you really don't have any enemies, bringing so much silver and other important supplies to Hongmen for the transaction, money can be tempting, and it's hard to guarantee that no one will keep an eye on you.

Why didn't Han Peng come by himself, but instead brought along the other eight village-level camps in Yinhe Valley to form a caravan to Hongmen? Wasn't that because he was concerned about his own safety?
In fact, after entering Hongmen City, both he and the other eight families at the Cold Protection level were constantly worried about this issue.

Can security be guaranteed during transactions?
What should I do if someone is watching me?
I bought so many nice things, isn't the return trip too dangerous?
If we do manage to buy some kind of elixir, will we use it in Hongmen City?
…………

Unexpectedly, the Great Xia Dynasty had already made arrangements for them.

Holding the two items in his hands, Han Peng looked up excitedly and asked, "May I ask, Miss Xiaorou, can we use this black robe and mask freely?"

Zeng Rou smiled and shook her head, saying, "Old Han is joking. These concealing black robes and vermilion wooden masks are not cheap, so they will not be given to you for free. The price for each rental is 2 taels of silver."

The rental fee is 2 taels of silver. Upon hearing this price, everyone nodded slightly at first, but when they thought about the flow of people they saw when they entered, they did some quick calculations and their eyes immediately lit up with surprise.

This Wanbaolou has a lot of people coming and going every day!
Given the effectiveness of these black robes and masks, aside from a few exceptionally powerful individuals or those with powerful backgrounds who aren't afraid of being targeted, everyone else would definitely rent them. By that calculation, Wanbaolou could make a fortune every day just from collecting rent for these two items.

"Miss Xiaorou, may we buy this black robe and vermilion mask?"

Upon hearing Han Peng's question, Zeng Rou's eyes lit up immediately, and she nodded quickly, replying, "Of course we can buy it!"

She paused, glanced at Han Peng and the others' attire, and immediately calmed down before continuing, "To be honest, you guests, the Concealing Breath Black Robe and the Vermilion Wood Mask are available in the Summer Clothing Shop on the second floor, but they are more expensive there. The black robe costs 320 taels and the mask costs 90 taels. If you buy them from me, the black robe will cost 300 taels and the mask will cost 85 taels. You can go and have a look first, and if you are interested in buying them, you can come back to me when you come out."

As Zeng Rou had predicted, upon hearing the price of the black robe and mask, Han Peng and the others froze, their desire to buy it instantly vanishing by more than half.

Zeng Rou was among the first batch of staff members from the Xia City Logistics Department to arrive at Wanbaolou after its completion in August. She has served at least seven or eight hundred people, if not a thousand. Although her cultivation level isn't sufficient to assess their strength, she has developed her own methods for judging people. Those who travel from other towns to Wanbaolou to buy things all possess the Cold Resistance level cultivation, but even among those at the Cold Resistance level, their financial resources vary greatly.

There are three main points to consider when assessing the financial resources of these individuals:

First, you can tell from their clothing. Those wearing nice fabrics are likely either from the town or have some background in the town. These people are generally quite wealthy and might spend a few hundred taels on clothes.
Secondly, there's the aura. The silver sculptures on the outer eaves of Wanbaolou serve as the first screening mechanism. Those who are impressed by them are likely to have limited financial resources. It's not that they can't afford things worth a few hundred taels, but rather that they don't have much silver on hand. They will definitely carefully select the most useful items, such as cultivation resources like beast meat, beast blood, refined salt, summer wine, and pills, or weapons, armor, and equipment that can enhance combat power.

Finally, it comes down to intuition, which is entirely subjective and unpredictable. For example, Zeng Rou knew that at the beginning of last month, a person dressed in tattered clothes actually bought ten Dragon Carp Pills and over 300,000 taels of silver worth of other supplies in one go. The person who received that person was none other than Zeng Rou's good friend, Kong Xiu, who earned 13000 taels of silver in one day, which translates to a full 130,000 contribution points.

Kong Xiu's overnight fortune has already spread throughout the Great Xia, making others extremely envious. The Wanbaolou organization under the Ministry of Logistics has now become a hot commodity among the eight ministries, with many people scrambling to join it.

Knowing that many people in Xia City were eyeing the positions at Wanbaolou, Zeng Rou's expression immediately became much more serious. Smiling, she continued to Han Peng and the others, "Esteemed guests, after you've changed your clothes here, go outside and walk along the corridor. You'll soon reach the first floor of Wanbaolou. Let me first give you a general overview of the entire Wanbaolou..."

Wanbaolou has five floors. The first, second, and third floors are for selling things, the fourth floor is for collecting things, and the top floor, the fifth floor, is an auction area that is not usually open to the public.

The first and second floors are the largest, so they contain the most diverse range of goods, including animal hide and bone products, woodworking products, iron and pottery utensils, hunting longbows and other tools, as well as various weapons and armor forged by the Great Xia Dynasty, and Xia paper, Xia cloth, Xia brocade, and so on... everything you could want.

Although the items on the first and second floors are varied, they all have one thing in common: they can basically all be found in the eight towns.

Of course, since Da Xia dares to put it out for sale, it means that the workmanship and quality of most of the items here are far superior to those in Bazhen. Even if there are items of comparable quality, they will definitely have a price advantage.

The third floor is different. It sells unique resources of the Great Xia Dynasty, and most of them are related to cultivation resources. For example, the Great Xia silk, wine, and salt that the eight towns are fighting tooth and nail for, more than seventy kinds of spiritual pills, Great Xia's specially made thousand-forged battle armor, ten-thousand-thousand-forged armor, and even silver weapons, etc.

The fourth floor is specifically responsible for collecting goods from outsiders. These people from various village-level camps can sell anything they want on the fourth floor, from basic mineral resources such as coal, iron, and silver, to unique special materials from various regions, and even new species of unknown origin. After appraisal, Wanbaolou will give an appropriate price, but whether to sell it or not is up to them.

After hearing Zeng Rou's last words, Han Peng and the leaders of the other eight families immediately became excited.

These people from village camps traveled thousands of miles to Hongmen, their primary purpose being to buy cultivation resources, and only secondarily other things. However, their financial resources were not as abundant as those of townspeople, so how could they buy more?
Then we'll have to rely on trade!
These village-level camps are rooted in their respective areas, and each family can contribute a few unique resources. In the past, they had no choice but to sell to their respective towns, where they were exploited at every turn. Moreover, many precious cultivation resources in the towns were not open to them for sale.

Now, not only is Da Xia willing to open up these resources to them, but it is even willing to pay money to buy their supplies. This is great news for all the village camps in the eight towns.

Han Peng and the others suddenly realized why the news of Hongmen's opening to foreign trade had spread to all the village camps in the eight towns in just two months.

"Just because Great Xia is willing to open up trade to all camps, they don't even need to offer a reasonable price. Even if they lower the purchase price, everyone will be happy to accept it. But in this way, all the village-level camps in the entire Mo'ao Mountain area will only be willing to trade with Great Xia from now on, right?"

A thought flashed through Han Peng's mind, and his expression immediately froze.

"So, from now on, will we, these village-level camps, listen to our respective towns, or will we listen to the Great Xia?"

Han Peng wasn't the only smart one; Yue Long also realized what was going on. After asking himself that question, he was completely stunned.

"The Great Xia is clearly cutting off their supply lines! Those eight towns shouldn't let them continue like this, right?"

Many leaders realized what was happening at that moment.

Yang Ning and Li Hu, standing at the back of the group, both had extremely grim expressions, clearly realizing just how ruthless Great Xia's move to open up trade was.

"Mr. Han, you should all be from the same place. You can come in and explore on your own, or if you don't mind the trouble, I can show you around. You can choose for yourselves."

"We are new here and not familiar with the area, so we'll have to trouble Miss Xiaorou to show us the way."

"Mr. Han, you're too kind. Please follow me!"

Zeng Rou naturally wouldn't refuse; this was one of her main jobs. She was in charge of receiving Han Peng and his group throughout the entire process, and she would take a percentage of every penny they spent in the building.

Just as Han Peng and the others followed Zeng Rou into the first floor of Wanbaolou, in the quiet room on the top floor, Qiu Peng, Yuan Cheng, and Lin Kai were sitting together having a drink.

The three of them were clearly talking about something, and they all had smiles on their faces.

Lin Kai couldn't help but exclaim excitedly, "Brother Peng, I didn't understand before. Our Xia City doesn't even have enough cultivation resources, so why would the lord ask you to allocate some from the supply department specifically for trading with village-level camps like the Eight Towns? It turns out the main purpose was to win people's hearts. Now it all makes sense!"

Qiu Peng raised his glass, took a small sip, shook his head and smiled, saying, "No, winning people's hearts is only the most superficial meaning; transforming people's hearts is the most important thing."

Transforming people's hearts?
Lin Kai was taken aback upon hearing this, and Yuan Cheng couldn't help but look at Qiu Peng with curiosity.

"With the limited financial resources of these village-level camps in the eight towns, my logistics department only needs to allocate a small portion of cultivation resources each month to meet their needs. Making them feel favorably towards Great Xia is only the first step. The other things that Wanbaolou sells to them are the most important..."

Qiu Peng paused here, a hint of excitement rising in his pupils, before continuing, "Think about it, if Wanbaolou continues to operate like this, sooner or later, the people of the Eight Towns will all be wearing clothes made of Xia silk, Xia brocade, and Xia cotton, wearing all kinds of ornaments made by Daxia, using all kinds of wood and iron products from Daxia, eating refined salt produced by Daxia, and drinking fine wine brewed by Daxia. Their lifestyle, including clothing, food, housing, and transportation, will all become exactly the same as ours. At that time, do you think they will still consider themselves to be people of the Eight Towns?"

Upon hearing Qiu Peng's words, Yuan Cheng and Lin Kai were both taken aback.

The two lowered their heads and pondered for a moment, then quickly grasped the meaning. After realizing what they meant, their expressions immediately became excited.

The change in lifestyle is the beginning of integrating into the Xia Dynasty and becoming a Xia person.

They all remembered what Xia Hong had once said.

Leaving aside the town, even among the people in the village-level camps of the eight towns, once they experience the current lifestyle of the Great Xia, absolutely no one would want to go back to the old way of life.

Once this mindset is established, the outcome will be obvious when Great Xia extends an olive branch to them.

"No, no, are the people of Eight Towns stupid? Since the port opened in July, hasn't anyone noticed anything amiss?"

This time, Lin Kai was stunned, but Yuan Cheng reacted a little faster. Upon hearing this, he immediately replied, "It's no use figuring it out. The Eight Towns are already in a bind. They have been exploiting the village-level camps below them all along. If they forcibly prohibit these people from trading with Da Xia at Hongmen, it will only cause a greater backlash, and may even force some people to directly defect to Da Xia!"

Qiu Peng nodded and said, "The only way for the eight towns to solve this problem is to follow the example of our Great Xia and fully open up trade to the village-level camps below. However, whether it is in terms of resources or productivity, none of the eight towns can match our Great Xia. Even if they open up trade, they cannot offer as many varieties of goods as we do. And the ones they can offer must be sold at a higher price than ours. So, in the end, there is no solution to this problem!"

"Hahaha, so the Eight Towns can only watch as our Great Xia wins over all the village-level camps within their jurisdiction, one by one. As the scope of this winover continues to expand, Great Xia's influence on the southern slopes of Mount Mo'ao will grow stronger and stronger, and may even infiltrate the interiors of the eight towns. In the future, once our strength is sufficient, the Eight Towns will..."

"It will collapse on its own without being attacked!"

Lin Kai finally realized what was happening. After saying those four words, he became more and more excited and couldn't help but turn to Qiu Peng and exclaim, "Brother Peng, your Wanbaolou technique is worth tens of thousands of troops!"

"This Wanbaolou was not my idea; it was the lord's. When I first heard about it, I was completely stunned for several days."

Upon hearing Qiu Peng's words, Yuan Cheng and Lin Kai were slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered. If it was the lord's idea, then it was not surprising.

Suddenly remembering something, Yuan Cheng asked Qiu Peng, "By the way, are the two chambers of commerce, Beishuo and Jinshan, still negotiating the price?"

Qiu Peng nodded, a smile appearing on his face. "The three northern towns have always been arrogant, always the ones making money off others. Now that it's the Great Xia's turn to make money off them, they're naturally unhappy. They all want us to lower the prices of salt and wine. But I don't have time to deal with them. The representatives of the chambers of commerce from Wuchuan and the other three towns will be here soon. Anyway, I'll only allocate 5000 catties of salt and 3000 catties of wine of different grades each month to the six towns. If they want it, they'd better pay up."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Cheng immediately laughed and continued, "What were the prices offered by the towns of Muyin and Jiangxia respectively?"

“盐1斤3000两，下品酒1斤1000两，中品酒3000两，上品酒6500两，两镇各要了1000斤盐、200斤下品酒、200斤中品酒、100斤上品酒。”

Yuan Cheng's expression brightened slightly. In other words, not counting pills and other items, just from salt and wine alone, the Great Xia Dynasty made 445 million taels of silver from the towns of Muyin and Jiangxia.

The supply and demand relationship dictates that the other six towns cannot defy the Great Xia; they will ultimately accept the price set by the Great Xia.

Once these six towns start to loosen their grip, Great Xia will earn even more.

Keep in mind that today is only the first day of the ninth lunar month, and the trade between the nine towns has just begun. This trade will continue for two more months.

He could already foresee that from now on, all the silver from the eight towns of Mo'ao would flow into the Great Xia.

dong dong dong...

As Yuan Cheng was lost in thought, there was a sudden knock on the door of the quiet room.

"Sir, Han Peng and his group have already reached the third floor."

"understood!"

After responding to the doorway, Qiu Peng turned to look at Yuan Lin and the other man, a smile appearing on his face, and said, "Alright, let's go and meet those two clowns!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Cheng and Lin Kai nodded, smiled, and got up to follow Qiu Peng downstairs.

(End of this chapter)